1. Field of the Disclosure
The present application is directed to a system for monitoring and recording vital signs of a patient, in particular a system for recording the vital signs of the patient in an electronic medical record associated with the patient.
2. Description of the Background of the Disclosure
When a patient is admitted into a hospital, a medical professional obtains measurements of the vital signs of the patient. Such vital sign measurements may include body temperature, blood pressure, blood oxygen level, heart rate, an electrocardiogram measurement, and the like. Such vital sign measurements are recorded into a medical record associated with the patient. Such electronic record may be a paper-based chart into which the medical professional documents the vital sign measurements. However, such paper-based chart records are being replaced with electronic medial records (EMR) stored in a central computer or server associated with the hospital. The medical professional may use a computer to add the vital signs measurements in the EMR.
A patient telemetry monitoring system may also be used to measure vital signs of the patient. Typically, such a telemetry monitoring system includes sensors secured to the patient that continuously monitor the vital signs thereof. The measurements from the sensors are displayed on a monitor used by the medical professional, for example at a nurse's station or documentation station. Typically, at periodic intervals, a nurse records into a patient's EMR measurements displayed by the telemetry monitoring system. In addition, if one or more vital sign measurements change suddenly, e.g., if a pulse rate changes significantly or an EKG indicates a problematic heart rhythm, the telemetry monitoring system may generate an alarm to notify the nurse of the change in the vital measurements. The nurse thereafter generates a printed record of the vital signs reported by the telemetry monitoring system, and enters the printed record into the medical record associated with the patient if a chart based medical record is being used. If the medical record is an EMR, the nurse may scan the printed record and upload the scan of the printed record into the EMR database. Also, if the telemetry readings need to be sent to a physician for evaluation, the nurse may send the scan, for example, by e-mail, or fax the printed record to the physician.
One nurse in a hospital may be responsible for several patients and have to periodically record vital sign measurements associated with each patient into a medical record of such patient. The periodic recordation of vital sign measurements may be required because of nursing best practices, hospital policy, and/or hospital compliance organizations. Delays in such recordal may occur if there are other more urgent tasks the nurse has to perform. In case of such delay, the nurse may add the vital signs measurements into the medical record associated with a patient when the other tasks are completed. Such a delay may introduce a gap in the vital sign information available to the nurse or the physician attending to the patient.
If an alarm is generated by the telemetry monitoring system with respect to the vital signs measurement of a patient when the nurse is attending to another patient, the vital signs measurement at the time of the alarm may not be available for entry into the EMR associated with the patient.